The breaking news: Ryan Borgwardt arrested and back in Wisconsin.
Once missing kayaker and married father of three Ryan Borgwardt has been arrested and is in the custody of the Green Lake County, Wisconsin, jail, according to online records obtained by Wisconsin Right Now.
The custody records say that Ryan Allen Borgwardt, 45, was booked into the jail at 4:56 p.m. on December 10, 2024.
So ends a chapter in the bizarre disappearance of the Wisconsin man, whose kayak was found overturned and was suspected to be deceased until authorities accused him of faking his own death and traveling overseas.
The nature of the arrest was not clear. The arresting agency is listed as the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
“We have scheduled a press conference for December 11, 2024 @ 10:00am to update the Ryan Borgwardt case. We will live stream the press conference on our Facebook page. We will not be providing any new information prior to the press conference,” the sheriff wrote on Facebook.
In a November news conference, the sheriff thanked FBI, Homeland Security and a number of other state and local agencies.
He said then that potential charges could be an “obstructing charge. What he did on the lake faking his death.” He also said it was possible that federal charges could be filed.
He also said that Green Lake County would seek $35,000 to $40,000 in restitution for its search for Borgwardt. Some of that money is for wages.
The sheriff said then that authorities tried to “make contact with Ryan.” They ended up having communications with a “female that spoke Russian,” and, through her, they “got into contact with Ryan. Through her. That was a big turning point. Our biggest concern that we had was whether he was safe and well.”
They asked him for a video which he furnished.
In August, the Sheriff’s Department posted about its searches on Facebook writing on August 14, “The missing Kayaker has yet to be located. An extensive on the water search was suspended yesterday afternoon around 4pm. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bruce’s Legacy, and Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office boats searched with sidescan sonar and underwater drones in the suspected area. The Green Lake County Drone unit searched from the air and will continue to search from the air until the individual is located.”
